The Hindu Business Line : The magic of steel, with a `warm touch'

"This is not some cold infrastructure industry that operates in some place I don't know of. This is a warm product that touches our every day life,'' Mr Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), said at a press briefing of the India Steel Alliance (ISA) to disclose the industry's advertising campaign.

A small film, due for telecast and screened on the occasion, sported none of the traditional motifs of the industry — its blast furnaces, rivers of molten metal, spark showers, safety helmets, hard-worked men and team spirit. It had no commentary either, another regular feature of steel industry's attempts at communication.

Instead, the treatment was soft with emphasis on subtly reminding people of the everyday presence of steel in their lives. From roofing and structural beams to vehicles and LPG cylinders, all taken for granted because steel is strongly enmeshed in daily human life.

Although beginning in an alarm clock going off, the film's language was gentle. A child for main character, reference to the metal through visuals of steel articles and importantly, the way it co-exists with us in a veritable orchestra of metal-based sounds.

The latter, ranging from the sound of a knife being sharpened to rivets being hammered in, has been woven into the overall music of the film. In fact, Mr Pandey said the film was called The Sound of Steel. ISA's press note titled the whole campaign as `Magic of Steel'.

"We had to take a completely different approach,'' Mr Pandey said when asked if the agency had any previous template of advertising to build from for the steel industry campaign. O&M had worked with ISA on the campaign for the last few months and the screened film is only the first in a series.

Dr J.J. Irani, Chairman, ISA, declined to reveal the cost of the campaign. The effort however, comes against the backdrop of low per capita steel consumption in India and a recent past for the industry wherein bullish steel prices saw complaints heaped by the consuming sectors. "Its like you were doing bad for a while and suddenly when you do well, you have to say I am sorry for it,'' Mr Pandey quipped.

Indian steel production is projected to touch 60 million tonnes by 2010-12. At an average cost of Rs 3,000 crore per million tonne, it calls for investment in the region of Rs 70,000 crore. " For this, the industry must make reasonable returns,'' Dr Irani said, explaining the need to be profitable.